BRUNSWICK COUNTY—Last week Brunswick County commissioners endorsed an independent feasibility study for the N.C. International Terminal. The study will look into the environmental and infrastructural impacts on Brunswick County.

The proposed mega port site is 600 acres of state-owned property near Southport between the Department of Defense operated Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point, the largest ammunition port in the U.S., and Progress Energy Brunswick Nuclear Plant.

SHALLOTTE­—It was a rainy September morning when David Friend left his home on Loblolly Drive for work. It was still dark outside.

He was less than three blocks from his home when the unexpected happened.

The road below his vehicle disappeared.

Instead of driving on pavement, Friend and his vehicle were submerged in a sinkhole large enough to swallow his car. When he attempted to exit the vehicle, the water in the hole was so deep he could not reach the bottom.

SHALLOTTE—The Shallotte Police Department has closed a case involving a former employee stealing from a company for more than a year.

According to detective Jeremy Humphries, Coastal Machine and Welding reported financial card fraud to the police department Sept. 8. As the company reviewed invoices, they discovered a fuel card issued to a former employee was continuing to be used.

As a child, I dreamed of walking into a bookstore, a grocery store, a pharmacy or a library and seeing there on the shelves among the other New York Times bestsellers a novel written by author Rachel N. Johnson. (Rachel Johnson is already taken by a British novelist.)